Sammy's POV:

With one final embrace, we walked onto the field, going our separate ways. Timmy headed to join the rest of the Giants nearer to home plate, where they were taking a few swings, whereas I headed over to the approximate location of the on-deck circle, where Kristen was setting up something like a buffet picnic. She looked up at my approaching footsteps, and smiled brightly.

"Afternoon, Sammy," she chirped, and I smiled back.

"Hey, Kristen. Is there anything I could do to help?" She laughed, and shook her head.

"Thank you, but I'm almost done. Go on and socialize with the others, I'll be there in a sec." I nodded, and obediently sat down where the other women were sitting on a picnic blanket in front of the dugout. Heads turned as I approached, and despite friendly smiles, I felt shy and out-of-place.

"And it's the Freak's girl," someone announced with a cheery grin. I smiled back.

"Hi, I'm Sam." As I spoke, I sat down, back to the dugout fence, and watched batting practice in the empty stadium.

"I'm Summer Ross." The voice was the same that had called out upon my initial approach, and I grinned.

"Cody's wife, then." She nodded proudly. Likewise, everyone introduced themselves, and I was enveloped quickly into the gossiping huddle.

"Look at that swing," I couldn't help but murmur as Pablo splashed one into right field. Kristen, who had just joined us, grinned.

"Not a bad one, but Buster's is better," she bragged good-naturedly with a wink.

"It's a shame Pablo doesn't have a significant other present to defend his swing." someone teased. I grinned.

"I'll stand for him," I joked. "Every player has to be jealous of his swing. I bet Buster can't hit homers from the lefty box, now can he?"

"Buster!" Kristen called, turning away to motion her husband over. Loyally, he obeyed. "Buster, do you think Bochy would mind if you tried to hit a homer or two left-handed? Please?" The rookie catcher glanced at us women, clearly catching on that there was a little wager going on. He laughed.

"Why not?" he asked, and walked back to take his spot in the line waiting for swings. After he was out of earshot, a light chuckle ran around the ring.

"You know who really made an entrance to the season? Brandon Crawford." Everyone murmured their approval.

"A grand slam home run to win the game five to four, in his first major league game. Who tops that?" I grinned.

"Hey, I thought you were Timmy's girlfriend, not Brandon's!" said a woman who I identified to be Torres' wife, despite not knowing her name. That caused another round of laughter.

"Speaking of Timmy... what's he like?" someone else asked in a conspiratorial whisper.

"What do you mean?" I asked, slightly confused.

"Well, he isn't called "the Freak" for nothing." When a wink was directed my way, I finally got the innuendo, and blushed bright red.

"We.. we haven't.." I stammered, embarrassed, and they all chuckled, and launched into gossip about how good their respective partners were in bed. Not wanting too much of the dirty conversation, I focused my attention on the swings of respective players. I was dying to grab a somewhat light bat, and take a few hacks of my own, but I didn't dare interrupt Bochy's practice. Instead, I settled for analyzing each player's swing, and mentally comparing it to mine.

"Do you play?" someone asked from beside me. I turned, to see that it was Summer.

"Yeah, in college ball," I replied with a smile. She laughed.

"Well, that explains why Timmy's so crazy about you. I don't think he's ever dated a player before." We both laughed, before falling into a short, comfortable silence.

"Who's your favorite on the team? Besides Cody, of course." I asked.

She smiled. "I think it would have to be Andres - I mean, look at the man! - but I wouldn't tell his wife, nor Cody that," she replied. "Yours?"

"Gotta be Crawford. If Timmy weren't on the team, he'd be my favorite." I grinned. "I asked Timmy if he'd mind introducing me around, and he said sure."

"He wasn't all that thrilled about it, though, was he?" Summer asked with a knowing grin. I frowned slightly in thought.

"Not exactly. How would you know?"

"That little show he put on, for one. It was an evident claim to you, in front of all the guys."

"You could see us?" I asked, slightly taken aback. It had seemed somewhat far back from the entrance.

"From home plate, you could," she responded with a wink. I sighed, shaking my head with a little laugh.

"In a way," I mused, "that's actually really sweet of him." Summer laughed.

"It's not just Timmy who's got the love bug," she joked, and we both laughed.

Shortly after, the women began to drift closer to home plate to mingle with the team members as they finished, and I walked over to Timmy as he finished his mandatory swings.

"Can I see that?" I asked, motioning to his bat. He handed it to me, a pale color to the wood. I examined it, before stepping back and lightly swinging with it.

"Not bad," I murmured, handing it back.

Tim glanced back at home plate. Everyone on the team had taken their swings and were now heading over to Kristen's food supply, spilling over five card tables that were side-by-side.

"Come with me," he murmured, pulling my hand, and I followed him over to where Bochy was standing.

"Mind if Sammy swings?" my boyfriend asked his coach. "I'll throw to her. Lightly."

"Don't hurt your arm," the coach replied, and Tim handed me his bat and batting gloves. As I wrestled them on, he walked to the pitcher's mound, where a bucket of baseballs was placed behind a net. I stepped into the box, and the first pitch came. As he promised, it was soft-toss, but being unaccustomed to the smaller target, I missed. I gritted my teeth, and readied myself for a next. This time, however, I didn't miss. The ball flew into center field, but not quite far enough to get out of the range of an easy catch.

We continued this for a while, before Bochy kicked us off and herded us over to the picnic table. As promised, Tim led me to Brandon Crawford, and I couldn't help blushing as I talked to him, because of my boyfriend's arm securely around my waist. Somehow, Brandon and I became fair friends, despite the fact that the relationship was clearly to be platonic. At some point, Timmy drifted off to talk to Righetti, while Brandon introduced me to the Panda, and of course, the Boss, and we stood around, chatting happily. By the time Timmy and I left the stadium, hand in hand, I had three new contacts in my phone.

Somewhat boring chapter. Well, anyway, it's here. :P